IWar Ed
by Dr. Angryslacks
Summary: One month after a terrible event, ten individuals assist in deciding the fate of the Batatas System. Yet the stakes are high and against them.
1. Employment

_A/N Okay, here goes my second attempt at a story. I'd like everyone to know that I'm crossing over with the now obscure Independence War series of space-sim games. Therefore it is my duty to provide as much information and detail about it in this story. Hopefully if I can do this, then the story will be interesting. If not, Oh well I tried. _

"**I-War Ed"**

They came. Just like the reason they entered the cluster, they escaped problems that could not be solved, they wanted to make a living on the fringes of Known Space, they wanted independence. However, while the Megacorporations allowed them into the frontier, it was at a price. While many did pay off these debts and formed loosely held communities. These Freelancers had no one to hold them down from their dreams but are also targets from outlaws and those… who assault them only to leave destruction with no real gain. Then there are the Indentures, those who have yet to pay off the debts of the corporations and thus fettered by their sponsors to their habitats and workstations. It seemed no matter how hard the Indentures worked they were just below freedom. This was the way of life in the Gagarin Cluster and the seven star systems that composed it. Fomalhaut, Drake, Osprey, New Bavaria, Batatas, Owens's Star, and Ishime.

Until one month ago.

**June 17, 2377**

**Near Vampyre orbit**

**Batatas System**

The Batatas system was unique among the other systems of the Gagarin Cluster. Not only because it was the only system to contain more than one star, this trinary star system had very little hold by corporate and government alike, leaving Batatas mostly lawless. The system was enshrouded by a blood red nebula that did not have a name. In fact, the whole cluster was in the nebula. With different colors depending on the system. In total the system held eight planets, 29 natural satellites and 41 space stations. Vampyre, the most outbound planet in orbit of Batatas III was a gas planet coated in dark gray gas clouds and a thick ring of asteroids and ice. Vampyre's single moon Stoker residing around 200,000 kilometers away had a greenish surface mixed with tan clouds. While it may appear habitable, the surface temperature is estimated to be negative 110F.

However that is not relevant now, the rings of Vampyre are being mined for metals and a certain mining vessel is nearly late. This mustard yellow vessel was an oblong oval in shape with twin thrusters that had a diamond held in a ring connected by metal rods, which in turn had a smaller diamond inside this was to lower maneuverability of the thrusters to that of which was suitable for mining conditions. On the underside were "Waldo" robotic arms folded due to not being in use, and detachable mining tools from drill bits to lasers to explosive charges. In the bow of this oval was the red tinted panel used to see from the cockpit, this panel took up nearly the entire bow saves for a bumper with additional lights and a flashing yellow siren neatly on top. Finally, the stern held a docking collar exclusive to use only by "Faerie" class mining flitters, and on the top of this vessel held one universal docking collar found on almost any ship. In short this was your typical "Frog" class light mining craft.

In the cockpit were monitors for sensors shielding etc, which all functioned normally except for one, the two seats in the cockpit had people in them. A pair of young men. One who was on the short side wore a gray body suit with no noticeable features other than the logo for the Maas Corporation on the back and an identification code 24558. This figures shaven black hair had three long back strands that somehow survived the cut and a bored look on his face.

"Come on, it never takes this long." he thought to himself while staring at he distance between them and their destination which was around 10,000 km and closing quickly thanks to the Linear Displacement Systems Class 1 drive which sadly due to lack of maintenance was malfunctioning hindering it's maximum speed from one third the speed of light to one fifth. Although it was not the speed they were going they were nearly at the cluster of asteroids they were designated to mine.

"So Ed, ready for another shift of grinding rocks into useless dust?" The short one said to his partner.

His partner Ed was in contrast a tall yet rather moronic fellow. Who could afford to wear his own clothing which was a red and white striped shirt under a dark green Syntha-Wool jacket, blue jeans that looked fairly new and black sneakers. Ed suffered from a hereditary form of jaundice leaving his skin a sick yellow save for his orange hair which he kept in a buzz cut. Something was clearly troubling him, as he was in a depressed mood.

"Ed, you there? Focus!"

Ed looked at his friend Eddy for a few seconds trying to say something yet couldn't find the strength.

"Vessel number 99 you barely made it. Head to the designated waypoint and await further instructions." Spoke the overseer and enforcer of the local operation, Former Second Lieutenant Kevin Blackwell aboard the "Cutter" class corvette _Positive Spin. _

"Acknowledged." Eddy complied uninterestedly while setting the autopilot to "approach" on the waypoint.

"What am I supposed to do now? Now I'm all alone." Ed asked his partner after attaining enough willpower to do so.

"Come on Ed, it's been a month." Eddy replied.

"You don't understand Eddy, Sarah was all I had. I don't have a family except her, and even if I did… Those things would make sure that was not the case."

"Ed, I lost my brother to them too, but I have to move on if I want to be at the top of the food chain here. Besides she would have wanted you to move o…"

"How do you know that Eddy! Were you there to hear that she said that?"

"_So much for trying to help." _Eddy thought to himself.

After a few seconds of silence, the ship has reached the waypoint awaiting orders. Which was just a tiny spherical beacon with an immense asteroid several kilometers away.

"Alright vessel number 99, see that asteroid over there?"

The two Eds proceed to rotate the ship to face the rock using tiny secondary maneuvering thrusters placed around it.

"Affirmative." The two voices simultaneously replied with varied emotion.

"It may look harmless enough, but according to the Vampyre Ore Processing Plant they believe the rock is on a collision course with them and will collide by the end of the day. Because the station lacks defensive systems, and because the available weaponry on our ships is insufficient we won't be able to blow it to smithereens. However while we can't destroy it, we can attempt to knock it off course. 99, seeing how you're the only craft to have mining charges thanks to the damn shortage. We need you to enter the asteroid, get as close as possible to the center of mass, place and detonate the charges. If all goes well, the asteroid will split in half and the two halves will spread far enough from each other to avoid the station. Sounds easy don't it? Do it then, we have marked a waypoint where the probes we sent went the deepest in. The sooner the asteroid is spilt the higher chance of success. Blackwell out.

"How come we have to do all the hard work?" Eddy complained to nobody in particular.

"Quit bellyaching and just do it, the sooner you two get this done the less I have to hear you bitch about it" Spoke an unknown voice on the Network 159 STL communication terminal. This voice belonged to a young man on the other end. While due to lack of lighting his face was hard to see, he was clearly wearing a body suit much like Eddy's and an old sock like hat that was still in very good condition.

"Whatever Double D." Eddy replied.

"At least you get some action, I have to skim Vampyre's upper clouds to harvest gas. Do you know how boring that is? If it weren't for all the E-zines and books stored on my ships CPU, I don't know where I would be. What I would give to be a Junker again."

"Call back later Double D, me and Eddy have to get to work." Ed finished the conversation by disconnecting the transmission.

When the two reach the entrance to the asteroid they were to use, they realized that their job was going to be tougher than they thought. Ed checking the list of contacts detected on their sensors all of them at least 200 km. away. The list showed the IFF, identified the name and type of the ship and marked whether a ship was friend or foe. Looking over _Positive Spin_ the ship was marked a neutral yellow Corvette that belonged to the Navy, Ed then looked over the Vampyre Ore Processing Plant which was too marked neutral and identified as an Independent station IFF as it was registered so after construction. However, something attracted Ed's attention, while their own ship the _Evil King Tim_ or as he called it "Evil Tim" which was classified as a utility vessel slowly entered the rock with Eddy in control, Ed noticed three Corvettes show up on the contact list. They were marked a hostile red and had an unknown IFF, but Ed knew well who they were.

_Marauders._

_A/N If you have read this far then I must be doing something right. Go ahead and review please, it will help motivate me knowing that people are paying attention and pointing out mistakes so I can correct them. Also, yes I know that Double D was OOC, but this is 2387. The cul-de-sac kids we know and love are long dead, and it will be their descendants that will be the stars of this fic. So while they will be similar in appearance and name, they are not clones and will have their own personalities. Until next time this is Doc signing out._


	2. Delivery

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A/N I apologize, this was to be updated two weeks ago. However, exams proved more important. So here is Chapter Two, enjoy.

**June 17, 2387**

**Faraday orbit**

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**Batatas System**

Faraday was the other of the two types of gas giants in Batatas, this along with it near identical companions Foucault and Valentino were a darkish yellow in contrast to Vampyre's and Boston's grayish hue. Six natural satellites surrounded the orb of helium; Kraken, Shallar, Nottrom, Pudsey, Barclay and finally Ghanan. An unusual trait these moons had was that Shallar and Nottrom; both desolate, cratered and rocky, were in nearly the same orbit and surprisingly have yet to collide with each other. This phenomenon is occurring not once but twice with Barclay and Ghanan, with the latter only five thousand kilometers apart.

Sitting motionless in orbit of the celestial body was a "Tariq" class Patrol Combatant or "PatCom". This craft had a circular midsection with a metallic dome acting as hull armor and providing internal space with a pair of wings protruding at a one hundred ten degree angle. The stern utilized a variant of the basic thrusters used on "Dreadnaught" class Corvettes famous during the Independence War waged one hundred years ago. Which is fitting seeing how Tariq and Dreadnaughts are virtually sister vessels. The underside held one universal docking collar, while the topside possessed the weaponry of the ship. A single Cryo Particle Beam Cannon or PBC which is a variant of the standard weapon. The Cryo PBC, included additional coolant tanks which when the weapon fired, apply the fluid to reduce cool down time and the risk of overheating at the cost of internal space. The fluid is then recycled and reused by the ship for other heat reduction purposes. In addition to a pair of twin pack launchers. Each could hold two salvos of nearly any rocket or missile. Making the total number of salvos on the vessel four.

Near the top collar, was a defense Linear Displacement Array, a result of the discovery of LDS. Finally, the bow held a Command Section, an invention by NSO Laplace Industries. This module was to reduce the crew requirements on a vessel significantly to around two to three people required to operate. In addition to such a breakthrough, the Command Section is a detachable ship in its own right allowing the crew to abandon the vessel should the need be.

In this ship held one inhabitant, a young dark skinned man wearing a gray suit with a simple badge that identified him as a Captain of the Fomalhaut Law Enforcement Agency Florence Division. This man had an abnormally large head with shaven black hair, and it seemed one eye was larger than the other. He was not necessarily alone but it is somewhat questionable whether his companion could be considered a being. Sitting in the second chair was a piece of rotting wood, an ancient plank of flora which had a face drawn on it with crayon. One of the blue eyes seemed to have been rubbed off leaving a smear absorbed into the wood while the red mouth held a perpetual smile. Jonny Benson, the man beside him didn't know how old the plank that he simply named "Plank" was, but it was quite a wonder to see how it survived so long. Jonny was always lonely during his life; but after finding this two by four, he made a friend.

"What's that Plank? Yeah, I know this ship is under manned, but it's not like it matters. All that really happens on these patrols is we go from station to station; make a capsule jump or two, then watch recorded videos on the CPU to pass the time during LDS travel. Quite an exciting job huh?" Jonny said sarcastically to the board. In return was silence. "Oh well, lets see we now are supposed to go to Tesla Medicare Orbital." Looking around him, the Captain saw a somewhat bland cockpit holding two seats. One holding the board of wood was the Captain's chair surrounded by a terminal. The terminal held an older form of the contact list which detected nothing. Next to it was a three dimensional sphere serving to detect where the target precisely is. This terminal was low enough to have the Captain to view both the terminal and outside the bridge.

Picking up the biomass, Jonny sat in the chair activating the set of monitors. Once online, he pulled up the star map, presenting a two dimensional map. A single red triangle represented the ships current position with the computer locked on the nearest body which happened to be Faraday which was surrounded by navigation options consisting of "Next" and "Previous". Choosing Barclay by zooming out and repeatedly hitting "Next" a third option appeared that said "Zoom in" meaning something was in orbit or nearby the moon. Using the option, a single green L surrounded by a matching diamond with the text "Barclay L-Point" underneath. Jonny hit enter on the keyboard, with the destination appearing on the contact list. With a final hit of the approach autopilot setting, the PatCom known as the Legionnaire moved to face the L-Point and with the whir of the LDS Class Two starting up the ship was off.

Jonny simply listened to the sound the drive was making, which was very similar to the constant purring of a cat in a loop. The far away moons of Barclay and Ghanan creeping ever closer. Then he received the message.

"This is a restricted area, leave immediately! Lethal force has been authorized to violators."

Dropping out of LDS, the patrol craftreplied about 57,000 kilometers from their destination.

"This is the Batatas I Law Enforcement vessel Legionnaire. Permission to use the L-Point."

"Denied! Leave now or we will use deadly force!"

Fearing his own safety, Jonny complied and instead headed to the Pudsey L-Point much farther away.

When the craft reached the L-Point, he noticed a Cruiser was protecting it. A "Capitalist" Class Cruiser to be exact. When viewing the ship to the side, one can see that it was a semicircle elongated at one side, the stern held an array of five thrusters powered by a unique triple high yield fusion ring providing redundancy in the event of a ring failure. The port and starboard each possessed one dual barrel Gattling cannon which were basically five PBCs shooting in quick succession fed by disposable conductor shells to provide rapid fire. The Cruiser also had a dual PBC turret directly under the bow; and two in the stern, one above the thrusters. The other below near the single docking collar. Multiple LDA arrays scattered about the ship protect its golden sheen hull. At first Jonny just silently cruised to the L-Point, staring at the warship partially blocking Pudsey's cratered vacuum thousands of kilometers away. Looking at his contact list, and highlighting the Cruiser. He learned it was the friendly N.B.G. Hornblower.

"Captain Benson, dock with us. We have a mission for you." Jonny, who knew he would not stand a chance if he refused added to his loyalty. Docked with the warship that dwarfed his own by attaching his docking collar with theirs. Locking him in place, awaiting instructions.

"Now stay where you are Captain, this should be brief. Okay, you see Captain we have learned some data on the location of the reason we are all here that must be confirmed. What we have just given you is a powerful set of sensors that must be installed at the Almost STC (Satellite Transition Center) HQ. You are likely to ask, 'Why can't you send a freighter or yourselves to do it?' because the Marauders are unaware of just how important this really is to us. So by having someone like you bringing it, they would just assume that you are just on another patrol and wouldn't risk attacking in fear of retaliation by us."

"Yes sir, I will not let down the system." Jonny complied knowing of how dangerous those things were.

"Then go, the sooner we have them installed the easier our lives will be. Hornblower out." The vessel cancelled the transmission.

Undocking from the Cruiser, the Legionnaire slowly but carefully aligned itself with the Lagrange point. In Jonny's HUD was a blue funnel in front of a red one. Making a final check to see if the Capsule drive was ready, he moved the PatCom forward into the blue funnel; and from Hornblower's perspective, the Legionnaire vanished in a flash of white light.

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The patrol craft was flying in another dimension, this realm was composed of orange energy. With lightning surging about, along with a stream of sparkling lights pursuing the vessel. To the ship, the dimension was a rather narrow tunnel. This was Capsule Space, the only known faster than light travel to humanity.

Roughly fifteen seconds after entering, Jonny found himself in normal space staring at the most outbound moon of Foucault, This Time. The others; No Good, Almost, Havenfrost and Tryst were more inward. His contact list sure enough included "This Time L-Point". Foucault in turn was the second most inward planet orbiting Batatas I, the very nucleus of the system.

"What do you mean you have a bad feeling Plank? There is nobody aro…" Jonny stopped his one sided conversation to realize in fact nobody is nearby. Normally the L-Point is rather busy especially since it's one of the few stable L-Points in Batatas. The very fact that not a single tug showed up on his sensors gave him a rather cold feeling.

The Legionnaire floated in the red exit cone of the L-Point for several minutes before Jonny remembered his mission. Pulling up his star map, he zoomed out and hit "Previous" twice highlighting No Good then Almost. Zooming in and hitting "Previous" one last time, Jonny's computer was locked on the STC HQ. Figuring the trip via LDS would take no longer than three minutes; he hit approach on the autopilot and sat patiently.

At first the thrusters kicked in spewing superheated plasma into the void of space cruising at a speed of 750 meters per second. Then once about fifteen kilometers from the L-Point, the LDS activated. The PatCom jetted through space, with Foucault and two of its moons moving slowly out of the way. Jonny monitored the terminal like a hawk for any signs of danger, which suddenly indicated that a missile is incoming.

"Battle stations Pl…" The Captain was unable to complete his command when the LDSi missile (Linear Displacement Drive inhibitor) struck. The weapon did not bring any physical damage but instead altered the space around the ship within a fifty km. radius. Preventing the drive form working for a short amount of time. "I thought we were supposed to go uninterrupted!" Jonny shouted to the wood, grinning as ever. He knew he was supposed to use the extra mobility the pilot seat provided, since he was the only person in the PatCom, the autopilot would have to do. One of the flaws in the Command Section is that while the pilot can manually maneuver the ship, only the Captain can use the weaponry but this too can be covered by the gunner in military variants which this one was not.

Scanning both his contact list and radar orb, Jonny prepared for his ambusher by selecting his twin pack launchers preferably seeker missiles. Then the attacker arrived out of LDS, a rather plain yet small yellow vessel. Its square like midsection held a single pod which could launch roughly two missiles, one nacelle on the port and starboard allowed the ship to safely land on planetary surfaces. The stern held a single thruster emitting bluish plasma, indicating it was a cold gas variant. Finally the bow possessed a narrow slit for the cockpit to view out, and a forward mounted dual light PBC turret. Which was a weaker variant, but had a higher rate of fire.

"Unidentified Yellowstone class utility truck, assaulting a law enforcement vessel is a capital offence. Relinquish now or be destroyed!" Captain Benson warned the ship, but he also noticed something. This ship was both unregistered and unnamed, how could such a craft be able to smuggled in system unnoticed was beyond him. The attacker replied back, but only to yell obscure and ancient obscenities having to do with some animal at him. "Well if you really want to play ball." Jonny hit the launch button on his terminal and a single missile appeared from the upper left corner of his cockpit. The missile zoomed to its target leaving a red trail to mark its trajectory visible only from the HUD. In addition to its trademark wail.

The utility ship which still had a twenty kilometer distance between it and the warhead that was still jetting towards it at a alarming speed, kicked it's thruster to it's full extent while launching a flare that came from a previously unseen countermeasure launcher in the stern. While the flare drew the seeker away, the ship charged at the Legionnaire that still remained still. When it was within six km. from it the unidentified attacker fired its PBCs at the PatComs topside. The golden bolts of charged particles were to hit the hull only to be stopped by the LDA. (Linear Displacement Array) The shield uses spatial distortions to scatter kinetic or thermal energy before it can damage the ship. Then uses a magnetic pulse to drive away debris. This is what exactly happened to the particle beams, the distortions made a rippling violet light which proved its effectiveness.

Jonny knew he had to finish this, setting the autopilot to "Formate" he selected the standard for all police and patrol craft. Disruptor missiles, launching one again from the upper left corner. Its blue trail and ghostly screams joining it.

While the PatCom glided along to form up with the moving vessel, the disruptor neared its target which was unable to avoid it thanks to it's advanced anti countermeasure software. The projectile hit its target, releasing an electromagnetic pulse immobilizing the now helpless ship. At his point the Legionnaire reached the attacking craft ready for interrogation.

"Who the hell are you, and what gave you the idea to attack police vessel thinking you would win?" Jonny demanded to the utility ship. Once again he received more obscure insults. Initiating a diagnostic of the enemy crafts systems, showing so far that crew thrusters and weapon systems were green. However, when he went over an unknown system, he proved to be rather worried. "What is that Plank? Wait a minute, it's building up power? Radiation? Plank we have to get out of here it's a neutron warhead!" Jonny yelled at the wood while rushing to the pilot's seat and pushing the throttle as far as it could go. Knowing any second the bomb would detonate vaporizing him and his friend if not fast enough. Nearing 1,300 meters per second, 1,400, still not enough. Already at two kilometers per second the bomb detonated, disintegrating the utility ship instantly in the rapidly expanding explosion.

"Hold on Plank! It's going to get a little rough!" Rough it was the Legionnaire, as fast as it went, was caught in the explosion. Fire slicing open the hull like butter, radiation enshrouding, the internal sirens blazing, the terminal indicating critical damage at ten percent hull integrity. All for but a few seconds, it seemed the PatCom never made it out, but as quickly as it came. The inferno was extinguished by the vacuum, and the torn open, scorched Legionnaire floated aimlessly in space in conjunction with a small beeping probe. With Foucault, Almost and No Good in the distance.

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A/N Once again please review and point out flaws so I can correct them. I don't know when Chapter Three will be up, but this should tie you over until then. This is Doc Mad signing out.


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